On January 28-29, 2021 the CSO National Forum was held in the online format. The forum brought together up to 200 representatives of civil society and other sectors from all the regions of Georgia but also from the Eastern Partnership countries. The main focus of the forum was the role of Civil Society in promoting reforms and the challenges they face.

The conference was welcomed by a representative of the EU Delegation to Georgia, Ms. Dominika Skubida. She underlined the importance of civil society as a partner in promoting reforms: “I have had the privilege to observe the development of the civil society in Georgia during the last four years. I am pleased to see how active and diverse civil society has become, especially in the regions.”

In the opening panel, representatives of the Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative presented key results of this four-year-long EU support program in areas such as diversification of funding sources with emphasis on state funding available for CSOs, increased cooperation between civil society and businesses in the framework of the CSR activities of the later, empowering of the youth as civic activists and promoting work of CSOs through the campaign ‘This Country is Yours’. The panel was followed by a discussion among participants about the role and challenges of civil society in the regions of Georgia. During the last panel, international experts presented their views about the current situation in civil society across the Eastern Partnership region.

Background information - Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative is implemented by a consortium led by Konrad Adenauer Foundation in partnership with Georgian civil society organisations: Civil Society Institute (CSI), Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), Center for Training and Consultancy (CTC) and Education Development and Employment Center (EDEC) and aims to address key challenges of the Georgian civil society sector. The project is funded by the European Union and co-funded by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.